


Guarding

by TheSmayles



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Because it's amazing, Drunk Peter, F/M, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Mentioned Ben Parker - Freeform, Peter is good in school, Peter's POV, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark cares about Peter Parker, basically about the relationship between Peter & Tony, guarding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-16 05:44:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14158059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSmayles/pseuds/TheSmayles
Summary: Five situations in which Tony Stark was there for Peter Parker and one where it was the other way around.





	1. The Bet

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!!!  
> My first work here on Archive of our own! It's been a long way. English is not my native language so please don't hate me.  
> This fic is inspired by https://www.fanfiktion.de/u/curiosity 
> 
> For my best friend, because she's the best and I don't know what to do without her <3
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!! xD

Flying. Was. AWESOME!!!  
"Whoohooooooo!", Peter cheered as he jumped over the next edge of the roof in a flip forward and was in free fall. Okay, it wasn't necessarily flying, but who cared? The streets of New York raced towards him in an insane speed that would have made everyone else sick.  
But not him!  
He was Spider-Man, goddamn it! How silly if he'd been afraid of heights.  
Less than fifty meters above the streets, he shot down a net and swung back up into the starry evening sky. This time, however, not only did his body make another turn around itself, but also his stomach.  
Mmmmh, maybe the bet with Flash wasn't such a good idea after all.  
As if his faithful guardian in a suit had read his mind, Karen contacted him right at this moment.  
"Peter, if I may say so, I would advise you not to swing through the streets in your current condition."  
"It's noted." said Peter grinning and landed on another roof for a little break. He made two lunge steps to the left, before he found his balance again and the world became more or less horizontal.  
Although, it didn't really stay horizontal. On the contrary, somehow everything was spinning strangely.  
"Your ability to coordinate, estimate, and calculate are severely impaired," Karen continued in her neutral tone. "Besides, your heart rate is 120 and your blood pressure is slightly elevated. And your blood..."  
"Have you recently been upgraded in Motherhood?" Peter rolled his eyes under the mask and once turned on his own axis. Another look into the starry sky made him stagger. "Dude, has the Milky Way always been this clear?"  
"Peter, if I may say one more thing..."  
"Karen, can you take a picture? I've got to show this to Ned!"  
"... in my programming there is another automatic execution."  
"That would be a great birthday present for Ned! "I'll put the picture of this bombastic Milky Way on a poster roll that he can stick to the ceiling of his room!"  
"If it should ever come to such a state with you..."  
"He'll feel like he's in space! In a spaceship" Peter laughed and clapped his hands. "Just like Star Wars! Karen, I'm a genius!"  
"I need to contact Mr. Stark.“  
Aaaaaaaaand the good mood was over.

Peter stopped so suddenly that he got out of balance and sat down on his ass. "M-Mr. Stark?"  
"That's right."  
"Karen, you can't do this!"  
"And why not?"  
"B-Because..." Peter wagged his hands wildly. "Because Mr. Stark will kill me!"  
"I strongly doubt that."  
"Shall we bet? I beg you... Wait, no!" Peter crossed his arms in front of his chest, nodded violently and tried to sound as serious as possible. "Karen, I forbid you!"  
For a moment, Karen was quiet before he got an answer. "I'm afraid it's a little late for that."  
Slowly Peter released his arms from the entanglement. "What do you mean?"  
"I've already informed Tony Stark."  
So that's what it felt like when your heart literally slipped in your pants.  
"YOU WHAT?!?" Had his voice always been this high?  
"As I said, I was programmed by Tony Stark on this case. It's called hangover protocol."  
With rowing arms, Peter pushed himself up and looked so frantically across New York's skyline that he felt dizzy again, expecting Iron Man to shoot around the corner any second. "Karen, how could you?"  
"It's for your own protection, Peter!"  
"What kind of fucking protection is that, if I get crapped on by Mr. Stark any minute?!"  
"Peter, swear words!"  
"Are you completely kidding me?"  
"The fewer swear words used at your age, the less you'll have them built into your natural vocabulary later."  
Peter grabbed his head. "This is a goddamn nightmare! I-I... I gotta get out of here as fast as I can!" Stumbling, he started running and approached the next edge of the roof.  
"I strongly advise you not to go back in the air."  
"And waiting for Mr. Stark to find me?" Peter jumped. "Hell, no!"  
"Not because Mr. Stark could be here any minute, but because a satellite mast..."  
DONG!!!  
The sound when Peter collided head-on with an iron bar - correction, a satellite mast - could probably be heard for another kilometre.  
Peter didn't care about that at the time.  
The pain that exploded in his face was just his primary concern. And the little stars he started to see in front of his eyes.  
"Ow..." it came out of his mouth somehow subdued, before something warm and metallic tasting touched his tongue.  
And suddenly nausea made his stomach turn.  
He hadn't even had time to catch himself properly, when he slid down the mast and landed the last two meters rudely on the back of the roof with whose mast he had just collided.  
The hissing in his ears and the pain in his face made him numb for a moment. Oh, and because he had landed directly on his back, breathing wasn't easy either.  
What started as an absolutely bad evening, but then somehow turned out to be some fun, just went down again very, very quickly.  
Especially when Peter heard the crunching of gravel behind him, opened his eyes a tiny bit... and together with the starry sky saw Tony Stark's face above him.  
"Oh... Shit!"  
"Had a great party?" Mr. Stark asked above him.  
Swaying, Peter stood up in a seated position and pulled the mask off his head as a nervous giggle came out of his mouth. "M-Mr. Stark! What a coincidence! Good to see you! Were you just on an evening sightseeing flight or why are you and I so unexpectedly meeting..."  
"Boy, has someone ver told you that you can't lie?"  
"Lie?" Peter laughed and could slap himself at the same time for making his voice sound so high. "What do you mean, lie? Is it recently forbidden to make a nice evening flight, to look at this beautiful Milky Way and to ask yourself whether this is not a wonderful Milky Way for the poster..." No, wrong, wait a minute! "Uh, I mean, a wonderful Milky Way poster for Ned?"  
Mr. Stark raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Karen, how much alcohol does he have in one breath?"  
"0,19 BAC , Sir!"  
"Karen!"  
Stark shook his head and sighed deeply. "I hope you have a very good reason to get drunk and swing through New York, or I'll have good reason to get mad, kid."  
Peter held his nose, which was bleeding violently, as he noticed now. Sighing inwardly, he admitted that he had lost. "It was a bet."  
"What bet?"  
"We were at this school party for the basketball team. We won the season, isn't that coo-... sorry," he interrupted when he saw Stark's sharp gaze. "Actually, I wasn't going there, but MJ had asked me and Ned if we could stop by to discuss something for next week's competition. And then Flash came along with some of his basketball friends and everyone was already pretty drunk. One of them hit on MJ, the others wouldn't let us go. Flash wanted to let me pay for what happened in Washington or something, at least he said we couldn't leave until I beat him in..." Peter faltered, not only because of the memory, but also because his stomach made another bad flip. "when I beat him at Beer-Pong."  
"Beer-Pong?"  
"Beer-Pong," Peter confirmed, nodding heavily. "He bet me and the others that I couldn't beat him. I proved to be quite skilled with my skills, but in the end everyone played against me. That was actually quite funny! I was lucky that they had all had a good drink before, otherwise I wouldn't be here now. “  
Mr. Stark blinked a few times with the corners of his mouth twitching slightly. "How many cups?"  
Peter thought briefly and tried to remember the cup pyramid full to the brim with cheap beer that he had in front of him and had emptied. "Twe... no, fifteen! Yes, fifteen cups! Is that a lot?"  
"Jeezes Chist, kid!" Tony shook his head and came one step closer. "Couldn't you just run away? Stay out of trouble like all teens do in high school when the rednecks show up?"  
Angrily Peter rubbed his bleeding nose. "And Ned and MJ? I couldn't leave them alone with those idiots! These are my friends! I had to protect them!"  
"But not by getting drunk."  
Pulling a snout, Peter staggered up and looked everywhere but not in Mr. Stark's face. "Spare me the lecture! As if you hadn't even got drunk as a teenager. I'm fine."  
"Your broken nose tells me otherwise."  
Suddenly, despite super reflexes and super powers, Tony Stark had grabbed him with one hand at the back of his head and his nose with the other and straightened it with a disgusting crunch. Peter wept in pain and grabbed his face with both hands.  
"What was that for?" he cried hoarse.  
"For the blow below the belt by mentioning my not-so-glorious times. Call it Iron Man-style parenting." He shrugged and put both his hands on Peter's shoulders.  
"Anyway, do we agree that wasn't your best idea?"  
Still bent over, Peter only felt at that moment how he became unspeakably sick and an excessive amount of saliva was produced in his mouth. "I-I..."  
"Just go, Peter. Just repeat after me. "Mr. Stark,"  
"M-Mr. Stark..."  
"I am sincerely sorry..."  
"...I-I have to throw up."  
Tony Stark jumped aside just in time before it happened.

"You know what?" said Mr. Stark above him while carefully tapping him on the back after a minute. "Actually, you're just lucky. Because otherwise I would have taken you home with me and I would have forced you to smoke a complete Cuban cigar with me over a 40-year-old Scotch. That would have been really nice for you!"  
Peter spat out and wished at the same time that he would disappear here and now through the attic so he'd never had come near to Tony Stark again. Rarely had anything in his life been so embarrassing.  
"Well, at least I'd have the item on the program by then if Karen caught you smoking." Stark tapped him again on the shoulders. "But seriously, kiddo. If I catch you again swinging drunk over the roofs and streets as a Spider-Man in the suit I designed, I personally give you an enema. Do we understand each other?"  
Peter stood up and rubbed his face. "I..."  
"Peter, are we clear?"  
Swallowing, he nodded and still didn't look Mr. Stark in the face. "Yes, sir."  
"Good."  
Suddenly he had a hand with a purple handkerchief in front of his face. Astonished, he took it and finally dared to raise his gaze. Tony Stark looked at him with a mixture of slight anger and amusement. "Now don't look at me like I've been kicked. Otherwise I'll feel guilty. Wipe your face and then go down to the next alley. Happy expects you there with a few things and then drives you home."  
He walked past him and only now did Peter notice the open Iron Man suit, which was still floating three meters behind him. He had just really not noticed how Tony Stark had suddenly landed on the terrace.  
Still a little dizzy he watched Stark get into the suit and close around him. "Hey, Mr. Stark?"  
"What?", his voice now sounded a little tinny to him.  
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."  
Iron Man shrugged his shoulders. "Let it go." Peter blinked, especially when he heard a giggle. "However, I wonder what your aunt will do to you when you get home."  
Naked horror ran through him when Iron Man took off.  
"YOU CALLED AUNT MAY?!?"  
"Good luck, kid!" It was the last thing Peter heard before Iron Man disappeared into the night sky with a loud roar.  
And Peter realized that he would not survive the night, thanks to his probably furious aunt.


	2. The Monday after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all:
> 
> THANK YOU!!!
> 
> Thank you for over a thousand hits.  
> OMG.  
> AND THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO LEFT KUDOS!!! YOU GUYS ROCK IT! That really means a lot to me.
> 
> And now: Enjoy! ;P

There were days when Peter liked to go to school and there were those when he wanted to do anything but enter the school building.  
Like sleeping under the blanket in his bed, swing as Spider-Man through the streets, help friedly old grannies or even help May with the household...  
Jesus, today he'd even rather polish the toilet to a high gloss than run into Flash Thompson!  
Why?  
After the not-so-great idea to engage in a drinking game with his arch enemy last Friday - although he had clearly beaten him - he had little desire to meet a very bad-tempered Flash, who would probably blame him for the worst hangover of his life. At least Peter had it. However, it had also been his first hangover and he hoped that it had also been the last one.  
His ears were still ringing from May's screaming when Happy had dropped him drunk on her doorstep. Not to mention the embarrassment with Mr. Stark. Goddammit, he almost threw up on the Iron Man's shoes! May had made him pay. She hid the aspirin from him the next day and let him do the whole household on Sunday. Oh, and he was grounded for two weeks.  
All in all, the weekend had not been a success. Peter had not set foot outside the door, had spent Saturday in his darkened room and did Sunday's slave labor.  
Only his teachers would be happy today. He'd managed to do his homework. Oh, and his nose was healed thanks to his super powers and his face no longer looked like as if an elephant had sat on it.

"Peter!"  
Ned was waiting for him at the stairs in front of the school building when May dropped him off by car. At least, apart from house arrest, there was peace between them again. Sighing, he shouldered his bag and walked towards the waving Ned.  
"You alright, man?" he asked directly. "It's good to breathe fresh air again, isn't it?"  
"If you only get to do that at school, it's not exactly comforting," mumbled Peter.  
"Oh come on, May will probably be so annoyed by you in a few days that you can go out again."  
"I don't think so. I think she wants to make sure I don't get any stupid ideas." Peter shrugged. "I mean, she even takes me to school and picks me up right after! I'm not twelve!"  
Ned looked at him pityingly. "It sucks, dude! But change of subject, where have you been after the Flash-thing? I've been looking for you and you... just dissapeared. I only found Flash snoring on the ground with his gang."  
So Peter told him the story of his meeting with Tony Stark on the roof. Like every time he told Ned something about one of the Avengers, his eyes grew as big as saucers and he listened with his mouth hanging open.  
"How cool," he shouted out loud and several students in the sports cabin looked at him frowning.  
"Shhh!", Peter hissed and waited a little until the ambient noise of the slamming locker doors and the chatter of his classmates gave him another opportunity to speak quietly. "No, Ned, not cool! Even when the house arrest is over, I'll probably never look Mr. Stark in the eye again! You've no idea how embarrassing that was!"  
"That's Tony Stark, dude! He must have done worse things in when he was younger than drinking a few beers too much."  
Peter blushed. "It may've told him that, too."  
Ned's mouth turned into a round Oh, but before he could say anything else, they heard the whistle of Mr. Wilson, the teacher, outside the hall and quickly set off. 

 

Physical education started to Ned's annoyance with running. To clear his head, Peter fell into a leisurely rut and made his rounds in the hall. It didn't even make him sweat in the slightest, but nevertheless he reduced his speed so that the people around him thought that he wasn't the athlete of the class.  
However, it didn't even take two rounds when he was torn out of his chaos of thoughts.  
"Hey, Penis Parker!"  
Peter closed his eyes when, less than two seconds later, he had exactly the person next to him he wanted to avoid.  
Flash was slightly panting, had a red face and judging by the circles around his eyes he hadn't had a very relaxing weekend either. At least a little comfort.  
"Flash." Peter said and ran a little faster, but Flash kept up.  
"What was that on Friday?", he asked.  
"I've absolutely no idea what you're talking about."  
Flash hit him on the upper arm. "Don't bullshit me! You've tricked me and the others! Thanks to you, I'm grounded."  
"Welcome to the club."  
"I dunno how you did it, but I'm getting that back at you, Penis!" He hit him again.  
"It's not my fault if you overestimate your alcohol level." Peter started to run even faster. "Maybe think about whether you didn't imagine it."  
"I know what I saw!"  
"Your buddies too?"  
Flash bared his teeth and still kept up with him. "Watch out for lonely spots at school, Parker! Someone might be lurking there waiting for you. And then there's no Mr. Stark to protect you or any excuse about the Stark internship getting you out of school. Oh, wait a minute!" He clapped his hands, jumped in Peter's way and built himself up in front of him, so that Peter had stop to not run into him.  
"Of course, there is no Stark internship!“  
"Thompson, Parker, keep walking!", Mr. Wilson shouted from the center of the hall. However, this had no effect, because Flash went on and became so loud that the whole class stopped and watched how Peter got harassed by Flash again.  
"Why would someone like Tony Stark consider you as an intern? Maybe out of pity because you're such a poor little guy who lives alone with his aunt? Last year you had grace period because of what happened with your uncle, but the free pass has now expired!"  
Peter felt how it started to boil inside him and he clenched his hands to fists. "Shut up, Flash!", he growled.  
"There's no such thing as an internship. You've never met Stark! He doesn't give a shit about you, he probably doesn't even know someone like you exists!" Flash grinned broadly and obviously enjoyed the silence that had spread out in the hall and let everyone hear him finish off Peter. "Little Peter wants to be an Avenger or at least an employee at Tony Stark's house. You dream of playing Stark's little maid to get his attention and you probably hope inside that you won't just scrub his floors."  
Flash Thompson saved only one thing at that moment from Peter beating the shit out of him in front of the whole class.  
It was a giggle.  
A giggle coming from the other end of the hall.  
And to Peter seemed very, very familiar.  
"With all due respect, son, but I have far more attractive staff to do the household for me."

Peter's breath got stuck in his throat when he and everyone else saw Tony Stark standing at the entrance of the hall, his arms crossed in front of his chest and a broad grin on his face. Panting and a soft whisper was heard and Peter would've probably laughed his ass off over Flash's wide open mouth with his huge eyes if he hadn't been so perplexed himself.  
What the hell was Tony Stark doing here?  
Stark, however, pushed himself away from the wall and came slowly towards Peter and Flash, his hands in his trouser pockets and dark sunglasses on his face. Even though he wore jeans this time, with his dark jacket, glasses on his face and the way he approached them, he made the students and even Mr. Wilson back away in front of him.  
"That's Tony Stark!", Ned gasped somewhere in the corner.  
Flash's mouth opened and closed and opened and closed again, while a sound came out of his throat that sounded like a mixture of a squeak and a whistle.  
Eventually Tony Stark stood in front of both of them and took off his sunglasses. "Besides, I have better things for interns than putting them in maid costumes and having them imitating Cinderella."  
"I... I...", Flash stammered.  
"They should be witty too." Mr. Stark sniffed. "You're certainly not. What's your name, boy?"  
Flash needed three attempts before he made it. "F-Flash Th-Thompson, sir, Mr. Stark, sir!"  
Mr. Stark raised his eyebrows. "Who Thompson?"  
"Flash!"  
"Were your parents on speed when they gave you that name?"  
Half of the class broke out laughing and Flash became unhealthy red in the face.  
"Anyway, let me just make something clear, 'Flash': When I take interns in, I make sure they're all completely under my protection. This applies both inside and outside my company."  
Peter swallowed when Mr. Stark's voice got an undertone he knew very well. It was the tone he used to finish him off after the ferry-thing.  
"So if I ever catch you taking down one of my interns again, I'll make sure your future is just picking up the garbage off the streets or turning burger patties on the barbecue. Do we understand each other?"  
If there was a way to sink into the ground, Flash probably would have at that moment. But before anyone could say anything else But before anyone could say anything else, Mr. Stark turned to Peter for the first time.  
"Mr Parker, I need to borrow you for a moment to discuss the next project."  
"Uh, a-alright..."  
Peter caught himself following Tony Stark and was well aware that everyone was staring at him as if he were an alien. He felt an enormous heat in his face and didn't say a word until Tony and he were finally out of the hall and out in the fresh air.  
Only then did he dare to open his mouth. "Mr. Stark, what do you want to talk to me about?"  
"Nothing, I just needed an excuse to go out with you." Mr. Stark sat down on a bench next to the entrance of the hall and instructed Peter to sit next to him with a knock on the seat.  
"Mr. Stark?" asked Peter after he sat next to him for a minute. "What are you doing here?"  
Iron Man looked at him with brown eyes. "What's the first rule of a cover story, Peter?"  
Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Tell a credible one?"  
Stark blinked a few times. "Okay, not bad. What's the second one, then?"  
Peter didn't answer.  
"Let the others believe it, too. Seriously, I thought you'd already convinced everyone."  
"I don't bounce it around school. Cover story or no cover story, it has something to do with my secret identity."  
"I don't want it to make you the target of any morons. Why didn't you tell me you had problems at school?"  
"I've always been able to handle this on my own."  
"Yep, I saw how well you handled it." Stark shook his head. "Peter, it's not wrong to show off occasionally. You could've asked Happy to pick you up from school, the limousine would've shut the people before."  
"Happy never answers any texts."  
"Because he doesn't want to know what you got for the afternoon snack from an old woman!" Stark got up and sat his glasses on his nose again. "But even Happy doesn't ignore a teenager when he says he has problems at school."  
"Why are you here, Mr. Stark?" asked Peter and stood up, too.  
"Actually, I wanted to give you another lecture on moderate alcohol consumption in high school until I realized on the way there that I was not necessarily the right person to do that. But I was also bored and I wanted to avoid Pepper, because I have no desire to rummage through the next wedding cake tasting. Seriously, if this continues for a few more weeks, I won't fit in my suit!"  
Peter giggled softly and his heart grew lighter as Mr. Stark returned his grin.  
"Thank you, Mr. Stark." he eventually said. "Even if it really wasn't necessary. And I'm really sorry about Friday."  
Tony waved off. "Like I said, kid, I did worse at your age. Which is not a clearance for further experiments, alright? Who knows, maybe next time I'll find you in a brothel."  
"Mr. Stark!"  
"Or the red light district! Although I'd love to see your face when you realize you've been hit on by a prostitute. May's reaction would be worth gold!"  
Peter flushed.  
"Well, next time you tell me something like that, alright kid?"  
"I will."  
Tony patted him on the back.  
"Come on. I think you should go your friend, what was his name again? Fred?"  
"Ned."  
"Yeah. Maybe you should bring him a bag or something. I think he's hyperventilating right now.  
Peter looked to the ground for two second's and grinned.  
"Fine. Thank you, Mr. Stark. I'll, um, go back then."  
The Iron Man raised his hand.  
Just as Peter put one hand on the doorknob, Mr. Stark added:  
"Take care of yourself, kid. Good interns are hard to find these days."  
Peter turned around. Mr. Stark had one hand in his trouser pockets, in the other he held his sunglasses and although he smiled, his eyes had a serious expression.  
Peter nodded and walked back into the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, that happened xD
> 
> I'm sorry for all the spelling mistakes. Like I said, English is not my first language :/  
> But anyway, what do you guys think? Let me know in the comment section! ^^


	3. I'm lovin' it

Being Spiderman was great! Really, it was incredible!  
All this strength, endurance, the fun of swinging through the streets of New York, the thrill of chasing criminals, the joy and satisfaction when he managed to do something good for others, whether he helped an old woman across the street or prevented a bank robbery.  
Yeah, being Spiderman was great!

Except for one thing.

The ringing of the school bell announced the long awaited freedom of the students for the weekend, should have made Peter happy and normally he would have jumped up directly into the next alley, put on his suit and would already be in the air by now.  
After all, he'd been doing it all week.  
Besides studying for school, because soon there were six months exams again and the household, which he took over for his really badly cold Aunt May. Unfortunately, one thing was a little short for Peter this week.  
He couldn't remember the last time he ate something decent.  
Since this spider bit him and he had become Spider-Man, Peter couldn't remember being really full the last time. Anyway, he could eat anything ever since felt and did not gain a gram. On the contrary, yesterday May had said to him that he had become thinner.  
So, when was the last time he ate something real? Oh, yeah, at Ned's on Wednesday. It was spaghetti bolognese! And since then...  
The bell sounded too loud in Peter's ears and he suppressed a groan as he slowly grabbed his bag. Ned also failed to make it to school today thanks to the flu that was making its way through New York. And the way Peter was feeling right now, the flu couldn't be so far away.  
Could he even get sick? At least he hadn't been since the spider bite.  
Peter was one of the last to leave the classroom and he rubbed his face. He really wasn't feeling well at the moment. He was slightly dizzy and his stomach hurt because he had forgotten to take something for school today and had no money for the canteen. His last meal had been the apple and half pot of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough Icecream last night. It had been the last food in the household. He really had to go shopping for himself and May today.  
Peter was so deeply absorbed in thought that he was still up the stairs to school when the school bus drove away right in front of him.  
"No, no, no!" he shouted and made a half-hearted attempt to catch the bus that just disappeared around the corner.  
Was he wrong or did Flash show him the finger from the back wall?  
Swearing, Peter stopped and looked after the bus for a moment before he slowly started to move. It was a twenty-minute walk to the next bus stop that would drop him off just outside his apartment.  
Which just seemed eternal to him.  
Somehow he didn't have the energy to put on the suit and just swing home. It just seemed too exhausting to him.  
Slowly, he got a headache and the sun, which was reflected through the windows of passing cars stabbed in his eyes and did not help him any further. When three pedestrians bumped into him as he passed by, Peter felt his mood sink further and further and his stomach gave him an angry sting.  
Maybe he could go straight to Delmar's Deli-Grocery and...  
Oh right, he had no money.  
This sad realization was suddenly crowned when another pedestrian bumped into him and tore the belt on his school bag. Suddenly the contents of his half-opened school bag poured out on the pedestrian walkway.  
Peter had the very childlike need to start crying.  
"Shit!", he cursed instead and knelt down to pick up his books.  
However, one second later he had to support himself with his hand because he became dizzy again. He blinked violently a few times, which was why he didn't notice anyone picking up his algebra book right in front of him. When he could see clearly again, someone held it in his face.  
And a very familiar voice said: "I'll go far and claim that today is not your day."

Blinking, Peter looked up and saw in Tony Stark's face.  
"Mr. Stark?"  
Tony grinned and picked up another book. "Missed the bus, kid?"  
"Yes, but... it's not far to the next bus stop and..."  
"It's a funny coincidence I ran into you here. I came to see you anyway."  
Peter broke off. "T-To see me? Why? Did I do something wrong? Did something happen? Can I... "  
Tony stopped him by pressing his dropped books against his chest and stood up. "Don't forget to breathe! Calm down I just wanted your suit for a little update. More specific, Karen needs an update. I'm going to assume you've got the suit with you."  
Peter glanced into his almost empty backpack and saw the red shimmer at the bottom. "Yes, I have."  
"Well, come with me. Be honored, you get to go to the lab! Last time I offered this to Bruce."  
Peter slowly rose his arm full of books and followed Tony through a group of tourists to the now well-known black limousine. Behind the windshield he saw Happy, who nodded at him briefly. Tony got into the car and Peter followed him awkwardly. As he got in, he ignored another angry stitch stomach.  
"We're going to your lab?" Peter asked again.  
"Yep, it's not far from here." Mr. Stark shrugged his shoulders. "30 minutes in good traffic. You're really honored to spend the whole day with me. Some people would probably pay for it."  
Peter's stomach made another angry stitch, but stowed his books away and settled on the square next to Tony. "And how long will that take?"  
"Probably the whole afternoon. Don't worry, your aunt knows, I just called her and I can borrow you. My powers of persuasion are still great, no matter what Pepper says, as if we can..."  
Peter felt a slight nausea as they drove around a bend and fine sweat formed on his upper lip. The whole day? Getting home in the evening? Normally he would have performed a dance of joy with this message, but right now he really didn't feel good and if he didn't want one thing, it was that he puked Tony Stark not only on his shoes again, but also in the expensive car, because he...  
A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and tore him out of his thoughts.  
Tony had stopped talking and looked him seriously in the eyes. "Stark to Peter! Still there?"  
"Yeah... sure, everything's fine." Peter babbled.  
"Really? You actually look a little pale."  
Peter felt his face turn red. "Mr. Stark, a little question... is there anything edible in your lab if we're gonna spend the whole day there?"  
For the first time, Peter saw Tony Stark slightly confused.  
"Edible? Except for crisps and dried fruit, I can't really..."  
Stark was interrupted by something that caused Peter to turn dark red.  
The growling - no, the rumbling! Of his stomach.  
Stark looked compleatly confused for two seconds before raising an eyebrow in amusement.  
"Hungry?"  
"I-I didn't have any sandwiches with me today and I forgot my money and wanted..."  
"Happy, stop at the next corner," Mr. Stark said and seemed to suppress a smile.  
Now was Peter the one to be confused as Happy drove around the next corner and actually stopped. What he saw outside made his stomach howl loudly again and the salivary glands in his mouth work at full speed.  
McDonald's golden M had never looked so beautiful.

Peter was just about to tell Stark again that he didn't have any money with him when a $50 note was held under his nose.  
"Jump out and get what you want," said the Iron Man. "It's on me."  
"Mr. Stark, I can't accept this. I can wait until tonight and..."  
"Boy, I have no desire to pick up your under-sugar ass from the floor and hear a sermon from your aunt that I let you starve to death. Something tells me not to mess with her, and I don't need to. So go out there and get sometthin' to eat!"  
With a really hot face, Peter took the money and opened the door.  
"Oh, and Peter?"  
He turned around again.  
Tony Stark grinned when he said, "Bring me two double cheeseburgers!"  
Nodding heavily, Peter closed the car door and rushed to the fast food restaurant, which he had last entered with his aunt a year ago.

Ten minutes later, Peter came out with two bags. In one the two cheeseburgers for Tony Stark and in the other...  
Mr. Stark didn't look up from his cell phone when Peter sat down in the car with his bag next to him. "Hey kid, I've just got a few informations from Karen and calculated how much energy you actually need daily. According to her, you actually need something. Let's take your normal daily requirements as a teenager, plus puberty and it's physical processes, plus your gymnastic little hobby and your probably run up metabolism thanks to this spider bite you could eat..."  
Stark's mouth remained open when he finally raised his head and saw what Peter had bought. While Peter had only listened to him with half an ear and had already eaten half of the first BicMac, his bag was now wide open for Tony. Nine other burgers, five boxes of French fries and two McFlurrys with chocolate sauce and crumbles were in the bag. Peter just took a huge sip out of the cup with a liter of Coca Cola before he grabbed the first box of fries.  
Tony needed a minute until he found his speech again. He closed his mouth audibly and began to grin broadly.  
"You know what, kid? Never mind. Happy? We're done here."  
Peter registered only marginally how Happy gave the burger in his hand a hungry look through his rear-view mirror before he reentered the traffic. In the meantime Tony himself reached into the bag and unpacked one of his double cheeseburgers, while he hummed quietly "I'm loving it!“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> How are ya? Hope you enjoyed this chapter :D  
> Sorry, I'm a little late because i was in the holidays and srsly had the worst WLAN ever. 
> 
> Just wanted to ask if I'm the only one who's DYING BECAUSE INFINITY WAR!  
> OMG I AM SOOOOO EXITED!!!  
> I'M JUST AS EXITED AS I WAS BEFORE SHERLOCK S4!!!!  
> AND THAT IS A LOT YA KNOW!!! XD
> 
> (And yeah, don't worry you'll get your Stony. Just be patient ;)


	4. Break Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! 
> 
> I know, it's been a while... 
> 
> I had this chapter finished for a long time and I kind of forgot about it. Sorry! >.<
> 
> DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains Angst and deals with the death of a family member. Consider yourself warned.
> 
> Everyone who still wants to read this: Enjoy!

The next two weeks were a good mix of school, chasing after criminals and lab work with Tony Stark. Before Peter could get bored with one thing, it was replaced by the other, although of course, he preferred to hunt criminals.  
Right now the school went mostly until 1:00 pm and after that Peter was swinging through New York in his suit and taking care of safety in the streets. Okay, even though it was mostly shoplifting he stopped, Peter still felt great to do something good. According to the article in the New York Times today, even the crime rate in New York had fallen by almost 30% since Spider-Man appeared. So that morning he got out of bed in a good mood.  
His day got even better when he was picked up by a black limousine after school. He couldn't help smiling as he got into the car under the envious eyes and open mouths of his classmates and drove to the lab with Happy.

Peter was sitting on one of the metal tables in Tony Stark's lab and was working on a remote-controlled drone when his cell phone rang for the third time.

"Forgot a birthday?" Mr. Stark asked and gave him a quick glance as he worked on the first prototype of a nanobot under a giant magnifying glass.  
Peter shrugged. He couldn't remember forgetting anything that Aunt May thought she had to call him for, but Peter still frowned, grabbed the phone and pressed callback.

"Can't matter if she's on the phone with someone else by now," he muttered and put the phone away.

A giggle from Stark. 

"Honestly, I wouldn't bet on that. It's over for today anyway. Jeez, it's already nine. Come on, I'll take you home."

Peter looked up. 

"Mr. Stark, you don't have to.. for me…"

"Don't worry, I have to go to town anyway. In case you haven't noticed I'm actually getting married soon- well, sometime- and that's not gonna happen on its own. I'll see you in the parking garage in ten minutes."

Ten minutes later they were on the road, racing through Queens with a Zenvo ST1. Peter held on to both the seat and the handle above the window and hoped to finally be home.  
Jesus, where did Tony Stark learn to drive?

"Don't look at me like that!" Mr. Stark grinned broadly as they held squeaking in front of a traffic light two blocks from Peter's house. 

"I don't want to know how you're gonna drive once you get your license." 

"Not like that!", Peter pressed out.

Laughing, Stark started driving again.

"I remember when I bought my first car. It feels great, kid, believe me! Sometimes a bit like flying."

"I prefer my suit."

"But with it, you won't be very good at picking up girls in public. If you... "

Peter no longer heard what Stark was saying when they drove around the next corner and his block came into sight. Because there was a car right in front of his building.  
A police car.  
Peter felt his breath falter and his eyes go wide while his heart made an unpleasant jump. Because the last time a police car was outside their house...  
...his uncle Ben had been murdered. 

"Peter!"  
He didn't hear how Tony called his name while he jumped out of the still rolling car and sprinted to the building and through the entrance. Ignoring the elevator, he hurried to the stairwell and took five steps at a time while his brain was running at full speed and one thought hunted the other.

Uncle Ben! Police! May tried to call me the whole time! Did anything happen to her?

Just because there was a police car standing in front of the building didn't mean they were with Aunt May.  
There were about twenty other families living in this building, they were not in his apartment!  
They were not...  
Panting, Peter pushed open the door to his floor, sprinted around the corner and stopped sliding, when he saw two uniformed policemen knocking on his apartment door.

"Hey, kid, what's the hurry?" One of them asked, but Peter didn't hear him, because at the same time his aunt opened the door.  
For a moment he saw her face before she clutched him against her chest.  
Saw the relief of seeing him, but also the anger and pain in her eyes.  
He felt May shakily taking a breath.

"What happened?" he heard his own voice asking as if from afar when May let go of him.

"Flint Carradine, the murderer of Ben Parker, has escaped from prison, he..."  
Peter didn't even hear what the officer said after that.  
Anger.  
Anger like he'd never felt before.  
Anger that filled his mind and spread hot and cold within him.  
He saw May's eyes filled with tears. She said his name, but he didn't hear it.  
Flint Carradine.  
The murderer of his uncle...  
...was loose on the streets of New York.  
Peter turned around and wanted to run. But someone was in his way.  
He ran straight Tony Stark and was grabbed by the arm. For a moment Peter looked into sad, brown eyes before roughly tearing himself loose and running away.  
The killer...  
Uncle Ben... 

"Peter!"

He'd pay for that!

 

Peter had no sense of time. He didn't know whether minutes, hours or days passed as he ran, jumped onto buildings, swung to the next one and just kept on running.  
He listened to every TV report that his super-hearing could sense, followed every police car, listened to its radio, waited for a sign.  
A sign from Flint Carradine.  
So he could find him and make him pay for what he did to Uncle Ben and Aunt May.  
But no matter how much he listened, no matter how long he waited, no matter if it was dark or cloudy or the sun was shining... nothing.  
Absolutely nothing!  
No sign of life or even a whisper from Carradine!  
Only slowly did Peter feel the indescribably burning pressure inside him diminished and replaced by the mourning of his uncle. The uncle, who was more of a father to him than his own, because he had died much too early together with his mother.  
The man who raised him.  
Who had driven him to school and picked him up again.  
The one who taught him how to ride a bike.  
The one he did his homework with.  
Made him dinner because Aunt May couldn't cook.  
Every second he thought more about his Uncle Ben, the hole left by his death grew bigger. This hole, which he had felt less in the last weeks than before because he had finally had a job through Spider-Man.  
Or more of a distraction.  
A distraction that had given him welcome variety and purpose and May only worries, fear and uncertainty. He had not taken good care of May as his uncle had asked him to in his last moments before he died. He had only had one thing on his mind lately.  
Himself.  
Peter lowered his head and put him on his knees while sitting at the edge of the roof, many kilometers from the former Stark Tower. A rolling thunder sounded above him and then he felt the first drops of rain on his head before it began to pour down heavily within a few moments.  
Just like the night Uncle Ben died.  
Slowly Peter got up from the roof. Walked, his hands buried in his trouser pockets, slowly through the streets of New York, under colorless umbrellas, flooded crosswalks and drains while it kept raining heavily.

Keep going.

He didn't know his destination until he arrived.  
Only shadowy he recognized through the rain the words on the gravestone, which had been attached in bronze letters.

Benjamin Parker.  
born 31.03.1979  
died 07.08.2017  
Beloved husband, brother, uncle and friend 

Peter knelt on the wet lawn, buried his face in his hands and began to sob quietly.

Again his sense of time failed him and he didn't care how long he was sitting in front of his uncle's grave. It kept raining, but at least the thunder stopped.  
It was dark when something finally happened.  
It stopped raining.  
Funny, he could still hear the drops all around him on the earth... 

"You'll catch a cold if you stay here."

A week ago, Peter would have stood up with that voice within a second. Now he just lifted his head tiredly and saw Tony Stark standing beside him holding the umbrella over them both. He did not answer either and looked back at the tombstone after a short time.  
Neither of them said a word for a while until Mr. Stark spoke again. 

"Your aunt is worried about you."

"Did she send you?" asked Peter Hoarse. He must not have spoken for a long time, his voice sounded very hoarse. 

"No. But you don't need to be a psychic to make that statement. If you spend three days without phone, backpack- and suit! When a certain killer is on the loose, it's not hard to guess."  
Surprised, Peter looked at Stark. 

"Three days?"

Grim eyes looked down at him.  
"By the way, your aunt has the police looking for you now."

Groaning, Peter rubbed his face and felt some raindrops fall out of his hair. "You shouldn't have."

"Really? Then why did you disappear without a trace?" 

Peter bit his lower lip and turned his head away. The feeling of revenge rose up in him like a slowly rising water level and he ground his teeth audibly. 

"He must be stopped."

Stark raised an eyebrow.  
"By you? That's what the police is for."

"I don't care!" Peter cried and got up as well. His scream was dampened by the loud clatter of the rain.

"He murdered my uncle!"

Tony Stark stiffened noticeably next to him and again neither spoke a word for a while. Then... 

"I don't think I'm the right person to talk to about this and if you want to hear it at all," mumbled Tony quietly.

"But all I can tell you is that won't make you feel any better."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I had the opportunity to kill the man who killed my parents and I was stopped. And I..." Tony paused and looked at Ben’s gravestone. 

"...if I had done it, it wouldn't have helped me at all. No relief, no satisfaction, no revenge. Just more pain."

A strange expression had appeared on Tony's face and his eyes were shiny.  
What? Peter swallowed. 

"Who stopped you?"

He received no answer. But Peter remembered something. An interview with Tony Stark on CNN, shortly after the thing at Leipzig Airport, after he had followed Captain America to Siberia.  
His face full of wounds, his face closed, his eyes empty... he had never seen Iron Man appear on TV that way before.  
Yes, Tony Stark was stopped- no, beaten! By his own friend!

"I-I..." Peter faltered and cleared his throat as it narrowed again. 

"I just don't know what to do. He was my uncle, and I promised him I'd look after Aunt May. But I totally fucked this up and I'm just angry and I really don't know what…"  
Before he could stop it, he started crying again. Good Lord, he started crying like a baby in front of Tony Stark, but he couldn't help it. Tears ran down his face instead of the rain and he sobbed so vehemently that he couldn't get a sound out.  
Then suddenly he felt a warm arm on his back and before he knew what was happening, Tony had closed him in a warm hug. They stood like that for a while. Peter's face buried in Stark suit while he held him tight.  
At one point, Stark said in a warm, calm voice,

"The police arrested Flint Carradine 18 hours ago. They locked him up again."  
Peter broke away from Tony and looked up in surprise. His expression was completely serious. 

"What?"

Tony nodded heavily. 

"Shortly after he was arrested, it was all over the news. That was yesterday morning."

He hadn't noticed... he didn't... 

"Kid, how long have you been here?"

He had no idea. 

Stark did not wait for his answer. 

"Other people have done it for you, Peter. They've made sure you, others and your aunt are safe again. Don't feel guilty about occasionally letting others do something good. You're not responsible for the whole of New York. Do you understand that?"

Peter just stared at him and blinked several times.

"Jesus, Kid!"  
It got a little wet again when Tony moved the umbrella to take off his jacket and put it over his shoulder. 

"Heroes need help too, Peter. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Even if the New York police sometimes act somewhat questionably and not every policeman has a perfectly clean vest, not all of them are completely incompetent. They too care about the citizens and take care of them. Accept this help and do not burden yourself with everyone's guilt and responsibility. Will you promise me that?"

Peter lowered his head and slowly wiped his face and managed a little nod. 

"If I'd caught him..." he whispered.

"But you didn't."

"...you know what I would have done?"

"We'll never know. And that's a good thing."

"Why?"

"Because it's better this way for yourself. You have a good heart, Peter."  
Tony lowered his head to look directly at Peter and put one hand on his shoulder. 

"Don't let anyone take that away from you."

For a moment Peter looked into Tony Stark's warm, serious eyes and then looked at Uncle Ben's gravestone.  
He remembered the words Uncle Ben told him the day he died.

"With great power comes great responsibility. Always be aware of this, Peter, and never forget it!"

"Come on," Tony said and ruffled his soaking wet hair.  
Three days, he said? Now Peter felt them too.  
And that he felt colder than Captain America on ice!  
Shivering, his teeth clashed together and he wrapped the expensive jacket tighter around himself. The arm that was put around his shoulders was warm like an oven in winter.

"Let's get you home. After we went to McDonald's and bought the counter empty."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was this chapter? Did you like it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below :)


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